1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a housing, an apparatus for generating hydrogen and a fuel cell power generation system that have the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fuel cell performs a function of directly converting chemical energy of fuel such as hydrogen, LNG, LPG, etc., and air into electricity and heat through an electrochemical reaction. While a conventional power generation technology adopts fuel combustion, vapor generation and turbine-driven processes, the fuel cell has neither the combustion process nor the turbine driven process. Accordingly, the fuel cell is a new high efficiency, environmentally-friendly power generation technology.
Fuel cells being studied for application in small portable electronic devices include the Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC), which uses hydrogen as the fuel, and a direct liquid fuel cell, such as the Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC), which uses liquid fuel. The Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell has a high power density but requires a separate device for supplying hydrogen.
Methods of generating hydrogen as fuel for the Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell use aluminum oxidation reaction, hydrolysis of metallic borohydrides or metallic electrode reaction, among which the metallic electrode reaction method can efficiently control the hydrogen generation. Generating hydrogen through a water decomposition reaction by connecting an electron, which is obtained by ionizing an electrode of magnesium into an Mg2+ ion, to another metal body through a wire, the metallic electrode reaction method can control the generation of hydrogen by connecting/disconnecting the connected wire and by changing a gap between the electrodes being used and by changing the size of the electrodes.
However, when the hydrogen generation is based on water, only pure hydrogen needs to be supplied in order to operate the fuel cell. The inflow of water vapor hinders the performance and causes the fuel cell to malfunction. This is an essential issue that needs to be resolved for application in portable power supplies, in which mobility is of virtue.